At least there weren’t sharks.
Location: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Date played: June 25, 2017
Team size: 6-14
Duration: 60 minutes
Price: $28-30 per ticket
Story & setting
Following in the footsteps of Robert Stroud, also known as “Birdman of Alcatraz,” we were attempting to escape the famous prison by uncovering his escape plan.
Philadelphia Room Escape’s Escape From Alcatraz was a metaphorical prison escape at best. The room was a strange mix of worn used furniture and unusual wallpaper designs.
Puzzles
The puzzling in Escape From Alcatraz was bumpy and built around searching a gamespace that was larger than it should have been. Additionally, Escape From Alcatraz contained trivia with no references in the room escape and decipherments that require guesswork.
Standouts
Our gamemaster was kind and made a very funny joke during his introduction to the game.
Shortcomings
The set was incredibly unappealing, beat to hell, and covered in splinters. When I moved a piece of furniture (which was a necessary action), it turned out that it was propped up on one of its legs and the thing fell on me. I’m fine… but wow.
The puzzling wasn’t fun. It involved too much searching, paper-based puzzles, outside knowledge, and guessing.
Should I play Philadelphia Room Escape’s Escape From Alcatraz?
There are flawed room escapes that need some editing and rethinking, but could work. Escape From Alcatraz was not one of those games.
Skip Escape From Alcatraz.
Full disclosure: Philadelphia Room Escape provided media discounted tickets for this game.
At least there weren’t sharks………..but there was man-eating furniture!
Yeah. There was that.
First timers will think they are all like this which hurts the industry. I swear there should be some type of regulations in escape rooms did that there is some sense of consistency. Ugh!
I don’t like “flaming” anybody but the website prominently features a comprehensive review of the room that is dated almost exactly one year prior to this review, and could not be more “different”. This is why you must “know” your sources of information as you cannot believe everything you read. Reviews found on a company’s website are almost worthless if you don’t know the author or if the author does not have a public reputation to protect.
It’s been my observation that World of Escapes’ crowdfunded reviews are basically spam. I cannot tell if that is by design.